Starting a Let's Play series of SQ4, but before I do...

[shadyparadox]

Greetings, people of the Forum. I'm essentially new to the place, even though I technically registered like two and half years ago.

 

Anyway, I'm creating a Let's Play video series of Space Quest IV (the 1.2 version), but I'm not here just to advertise it because I haven't posted anything yet. Actually, I'm starting this thread as kind of an open-ended question to the SQ community.

 

To set it up, I'll first say that my style is a bit unusual. Instead of whipping through a bunch of games spontaneously, I pick a very select few I particularly enjoy and create fairly comprehensive presentations of everything I know about them, while still maintaining some natural flow and not bogging down. This requires scripting the gameplay and editing much of the commentary. I don't make many videos, but when I do I want to get them right.

 

The trickiest part about scripting these out is making sure to cover the more obscure facets of the game (bugs, funniest lines, easter eggs, unused resources, pop culture references, background story almost nobody understands, etc.). So one approach I'm taking this is to simply ask all you SQ knowledgeables: Do you have anything off the top of your head in any of the above categories (including "etc.") that you think would be fun to show off in a video series?

 

I'm already well on my way doing my own research (pixel hunting the game, reading the wiki, perusing the forum), so I know much of the above stuff already, and I'm not asking anyone to do my homework for me. And obviously I'm not going to be able to fit everything no matter how hard I try. But if there's anything you personally feel is a cool and unusual can't-miss item, then I'd hate to, well, miss it.

 

Sorry to be a bit general in my request, likely resulting in rehashing of previous threads, but with this category it's hard to know what I'm looking for until I find it. I've already learned about "bluefrog" and the beta keycard just from rummaging around in a few old threads, so I know you guys are the right ones to ask. I could go through every thread instead of posting this, but I don't think that's the most efficient way to go about it (unless you have a comprehensive database of all your discoveries somewhere...?).

 

Thanks in advance for your ideas, I'm sure you have some good ones.

[suejak]

http://spacequesthistorian.com/

 

Oh, welcome :P

 

EDIT: Also, each podcast has one of these, which you'd probably find informative and helpful for picking out which casts to listen to.

[shadyparadox]

http://spacequesthistorian.com/

 

Oh, welcome :P

 

EDIT: Also, each podcast has one of these, which you'd probably find informative and helpful for picking out which casts to listen to.

Thanks! That'll keep me busy for sure.

 

Still open to any random personal favorites people have by the way, even if it's just "be sure to lick the cigar the burger manager is holding." That's what I would say if I were on the other end of this conversation.

[Troels Pleimert]

Thanks for the plug, suejak. ;)

 

Off the top of my head, my favorite "bug is a feature" is pressing the space bar during the intro to get text and speech at the same time (an option apparently removed from the final version).

 

Also that it is technically possible to avoid the Sequel Police on Estros and make it back to your time pod, but for no real reason. I had detailed instructions for that in the old SQ FAQ.

 

The secret time code to Ortega: top row left-to-right + first left button on second row.

 

"Blue frogs on my shoulders makes me happy" line in the audio file that doesn't appear in the game and which NO ONE, not even Scott Murphy, knows what it was for. Big mystery.

 

Differences in graphics between disk and CD version.

 

The "room removed for legal reasons" that's in the resource files but inaccessible from the game itself.

 

I'll try to think of more later.

[BlockMaster]

Definitely the Room Removed for Legal Reasons. I was just going to suggest that, but apparently, I'm never the first one to come up with a new thread idea or reply (Hey guys!, I just discovered that Sierra is coming back in 2015!... Oh. There's a thread for it with a hundred replies. Hum hum. Never mind. :) ) Anyway, I think you should also mention the removed games from the bargain bin : Dacron Danny and Stunt Flyer, as well as the old placeholder for the Astro Chicken game, the unused speech portrait of Professor Lloyd, the beta version, the old Roger look, as seen in the game's documentation, the fact that the intro was once interactive, the patches, the unused time pod Time-O-Matic menu, the "I Love Lunacy" easter egg, the three unused lines spoke by the actor who plays Roger, (The scream, "Dang", and "Mom!"), the fact that the ending sequence was once also interactive... and much more. These are just ideas that mostly come from Akril's website or my own research. Anyway, that's all I got for now. I am really looking for seeing what you're going to make with that let's play idea. I always like seeing more Space Quest content on YouTube.

 

BlockMaster

[shadyparadox]

Thanks guys, you're giving me plenty to work with. I was aware of the Legal Reasons room (which I'm sure you know was reinstated in 1.2), but I've got some questions about some of the others...

 

Also that it is technically possible to avoid the Sequel Police on Estros and make it back to your time pod, but for no real reason. I had detailed instructions for that in the old SQ FAQ.

 

I'm curious about this, if you still have the instructions in your head or elsewhere. Seems like a good way to look around the place.

 

Differences in graphics between disk and CD version.

 

This is mainly due to the 256- vs. 230-color scheme, correct? The only screen I'm sure was affected by this was the first screen on Xenon, where the computer in the background is red in the floppy version but had to be sorta orangeish in the CD version, although the red was reinstated in 1.2. Am I right on this? What other notable screens if any are affected by it?

 

 

BlockMaster, I don't know what you're talking about when you say you never come up with a new idea lol. There's a lot in your post I didn't know about, highlighted below:

 

Definitely the Room Removed for Legal Reasons. I was just going to suggest that, but apparently, I'm never the first one to come up with a new thread idea or reply (Hey guys!, I just discovered that Sierra is coming back in 2015!... Oh. There's a thread for it with a hundred replies. Hum hum. Never mind. :) ) Anyway, I think you should also mention the removed games from the bargain bin : Dacron Danny and Stunt Flyer, as well as the old placeholder for the Astro Chicken game, the unused speech portrait of Professor Lloyd, the beta version, the old Roger look, as seen in the game's documentation, the fact that the intro was once interactive, the patches, the unused time pod Time-O-Matic menu, the "I Love Lunacy" easter egg, the three unused lines spoke by the actor who plays Roger, (The scream, "Dang", and "Mom!"), the fact that the ending sequence was once also interactive... and much more. These are just ideas that mostly come from Akril's website or my own research. Anyway, that's all I got for now. I am really looking for seeing what you're going to make with that let's play idea. I always like seeing more Space Quest content on YouTube.

 

BlockMaster

 

What is Akril's website? I remember using material from it when I made a KQ video a few years ago but the link I put in its description is broken now.

EDIT: Never mind, I found it again: http://www.akril15.com/sr/SierraResources.html

 

Anyway, in response to your itemized post, first of all the missing games were reinstated in 1.2, so I won't miss that. Also, I'm pretty sure "Dang!" IS in the game (unless there's a second one), but I haven't heard the other two. And I've seen the beta version mentioned in other threads, but have no idea how to get it. As for the other bolded stuff... well, I don't know anything about them so can't really comment, tell me more!

[Dat Engineer]

Hiya, ShadyParadox. I'm a huge fan of yours. :) Hope Achenar didn't traumatize you too much in the realMYST LP. :P

 

FYI, there are two "Dang!"s in the RESOURCE.AUD file. One said by the narrator, and another by Roger. The Roger version never appears in the game. And yes indeed, "blue frogs" has tormented us for goodness knows how long. My favorite lines in the game, for the record, are cued from looking at the large red sphere (as mentioned in my signature) in the Super Computer landing bay, also Roger's head in the Time Pod.

 

Make sure you trigger the lesser-known "slide show" easter egg. The way to trigger it is, when dropping into the sewer maintenance office in SQ12, walk Roger down as far as possible to the bottom and the left corner of the screen, then select the buckazoid in your inventory, and click it at the bottom-left corner of the room. Apparently I blew a few minds in the Google Hangout when I was running SQ4.

 

Quite honestly, because of how the game works, I would recommend doing a partly scripted/mostly improvised run-through of it just like you did with realMYST, rather than something mostly scripted like you did with MYST IV. You might discover some new things just by poking around and experimenting. Remember to save your game, though you probably already knew this since you speedran KQ5.

[shadyparadox]

Hiya, ShadyParadox. I'm a huge fan of yours.  :) Hope Achenar didn't traumatize you too much in the realMYST LP.  :P

 

Hey, cool to see I'm not totally anonymous around here. I enjoyed making those videos, but I'm ready to move on from the Myst series.

 

FYI, there are two "Dang!"s in the RESOURCE.AUD file. One said by the narrator, and another by Roger. The Roger version never appears in the game. And yes indeed, "blue frogs" has tormented us for goodness knows how long. My favorite lines in the game, for the record, are cued from looking at the large red sphere (as mentioned in my signature) in the Super Computer landing bay, also Roger's head in the Time Pod.

 

Thanks for the clarification, and for the red sphere line, I'll be sure not to miss it.

 

Make sure you trigger the lesser-known "slide show" easter egg. The way to trigger it is, when dropping into the sewer maintenance office in SQ12, walk Roger down as far as possible to the bottom and the left corner of the screen, then select the buckazoid in your inventory, and click it at the bottom-left corner of the room. Apparently I blew a few minds in the Google Hangout when I was running SQ4.

 

Ooh yeah that's a good one, it appears almost nobody is aware of it. Had I not found it on Sierra Chest just a couple hours before your post, my mind would've been blown as well.  :P

 

Quite honestly, because of how the game works, I would recommend doing a partly scripted/mostly improvised run-through of it just like you did with realMYST, rather than something mostly scripted like you did with MYST IV. You might discover some new things just by poking around and experimenting. Remember to save your game, though you probably already knew this since you speedran KQ5.

 

It's probably going to be somewhere in between those two. I definitely want to scout ahead and have a plan for each video going in, if nothing more than to avoid getting a bunch of generic "You can't use that here"/"You can't do that"/"It needs salt" lines in a row. But it is a comparatively whimsical game, so I don't need it to be perfect either.

[shadyparadox]

Bump.

 

I actually completed and uploaded Part 1 of this series to YouTube a month ago, but haven't had much time to work on it since because I've been transitioning between departments at my job and thus have been working more hours than usual. So when I get home I find myself just wanting to turn my brain off instead of tapping into my creative abilities (transition will be complete next week). Anyway, you can view that video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE7a35aHJkg

 

I don't get very far in the game (read: nowhere) because there's a lot of administrative stuff to get out the way at the start.

 

Anyway, I'm resurrecting the thread in hopes of continuing the discussion we were having above. The first thing I did after reading your responses was of course to catch up on as many of the SQ Historian's episodes as I could. Those have been quite entertaining and helpful, keep up the awesome work, Troels!

 

Interestingly though, I didn't catch any reference to the specific point about avoiding the Sequel Police on Estros (I'm still quite curious about that). The other major thing I'm curious about is all the graphical differences. I have the different versions, and therefore can make visual comparisons like the one I already made, but I'm afraid I might miss a few if I'm not nudged in the right direction.

[Troels Pleimert]

Hey, sorry for dropping out of the conversation -- I've been a bit all over the place lately, and haven't checked these forums in a while.

 

Congrats on the first part, shadyparadox! It's on my "Watch Later" list. And thanks for checking out my podcast. :)

 

Regarding the evasion of the Sequel Policemen on Estros, here's the bit from the SQFAQ I wrote eons ago that details how to do it. Your mileage may vary, 'cos there's an element of timer in it, and I haven't tested this on any newer systems/DOSbox/ScummVM:

 

I don't think, Sierra had thought one could manage to avoid the Sequel

Police on Estros. It's damn hard, and I've only discovered ONE method of

doing it, and that involves that you start out in a specific spot. Besides,

you can't steal THEIR time pod, you HAVE to make your way to your own. (But

if you follow these instructions, you can do just that.)

Here we go. First, you HAVE to stand on a specific screen for this to

work. From your own timepod, go two screens to the left. Stand around the

center of the screen. You need to be able to exit the screen quickly, if a

SP-droid shows up. Wait for the SP-droids to appear. Go one screen down and

one screen to the right. Go one screen up. You will be discovered! Avoid

his shots by quickly going one screen down. Now, let Roger walk over the edge

and land in the pool below.

Here comes the tricky part. You have to be careful down here, because a

SP-droid shows up like *snap* that. So the minute you land, start clicking

the walk icon on the stairs, leading up. On few occasions, I've witnessed a

droid walking down the stairs, shooting me, or a droid standing there, waiting

for me. Anyway, rush up the stairs and further up (an SP-droid will stand on

the ledge above you; he won't shoot after you on your way up, though). There!

You've reached their time pod! But you can't steal it, unfortunately, so

you'll have to go one screen to the right and take your own. Alternatively,

you can also go one screen down and be captured by the pterodactyl and

complete the game. :)

[Dat Engineer]

Looks like you nailed that first episode. Classic ShadyParadox, and a great way of using the ledge death without simply wandering aimlessly off the ledge. :P